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Knee Pains on toddlers

Hi! I would just like to have a few answers or ideas about my concern.

Do toddlers really get knee pains and how can I prevent it from happening? My four-year-old son occasionally gets knee pains at night, around 3-4 times a month. I can see no consistent reason as to how he gets it. It happened to me, too, when i was his age until fourth grade, according to my mum.

My son said he feels like his knees are extremely tired and wants me to massage it for him. Poor guy, he often cries himself to sleep when the pain attacks.

That is so sad =(. Funny that you should mention it, I had the same problem until around the third or fourth grade. My mother called them growing pains, and I would imagine that they do somewhat correspond with a growth spurt.

Have you considered bringing your son to a chiropractor? Getting an alignment could help tremendously with these pains.

Other than that all I can suggest is massage, warm compresses, and possibly upping his potassium intake. Maybe some of the other great mums on this board will have more suggestions!

My guess is that there may be a genetic component involved. Possibly there was a weakness in your knees that you passed to your son.

Have you mentioned this to your doctor? If you can diagnose the cause then you'll be well on your way to figuring out how what you need to do to reverse the pain.

I would be sure that your son is getting enough essential fatty acids. Cod Liver Oil may benefit your son. If the pain is in the joint, the essential fatty acids could help. You could also try giving him gelatin, which is made from cartilage. A little gelatin (like what he would get in a serving of Jell-O) would not be enough to do any good. But larger quantities have been known to help people who have joint pain. There's also Condroiton Sulphate and Glucosamine Sulphate which can help as well.

In fact there's an Emergen-C product that is formulated to support joints and this is something your son could easily drink (it tastes like a sweet, fizzy drink).

I don't think the Emergen C for joing support drink would be harmful, and you could even have him drink 1/2 of it at breakfast and half at dinner to make sure the benefits are spread out throughout the day (and definitely before bed).

It may take a few weeks for you to see the benefits, but it's worth a try.

Please post back and let us know how it goes.

mom2many gave some good ideas for things you can do to help with the pain until you find something to clear this up completely.

You've had some excellent suggestions above. Whilst I am not a midwife, I have worked in the health profession for a number of years I would certainly advise getting his knee checked by your doctor if at all possible.